Calvert News & Commentary

UN Global Compact and UNIFEM Consider International Application of The Calvert Women’s Principles

Participants address business’ role in strengthening women’s status in the workplace

3/9/2009

The Calvert Women’s Principles® (CWP) were a focal point of a March 5-6 forum convened by the United Nations Global Compact and the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), entitled Advancing Women in the Global Marketplace.

The two-day event, which was held just prior to International Women’s Day on March 8,  brought together representatives of business, civil society, academia, labor, governments and the UN to explore ways in which business can help empower women in the workplace and advance gender equality globally. The event highlighted issues such as creating an optimal workplace environment, women and entrepreneurship and public-private partnerships as a critical means of advancing women’s equality.

A central element on the agenda was a discussion of the potential international application of the Calvert Women’s Principles, developed in 2004 by Calvert in collaboration with UNIFEM.  Attendees considered how the CWP might be adapted to promote adoption and implementation by corporations in every industry and region around the world and contribute to further progress in the advancement of women.

Featured speaker Barbara J. Krumsiek, Chair, CEO and President of Calvert Group, Ltd, underscored the significance of the occasion.

"Now we have the remarkable opportunity to make the Calvert Women’s Principles truly international in scope. As a long-time member of the UN Global Compact and a long-time collaborator with UNIFEM on the Principles themselves, we are pleased and honored to join both organizations as they launch this international consultative process to widen the Principles’ international reach and impact. "

Calvert’s Amy Augustine, Manager, Diversity and International Labor Relations, and Aditi Vora, Social Research Analyst, were lead panelists in a discussion titled, Why the Women’s Principles -- Why Now? The panel was chaired by Joanne Sandler, UNIFEM’s Deputy Director for Programmes, and included Calvert partners Verité, the San Francisco Department on the Status of Women and Symantec. Using several CWP initiatives as examples, participants explored the integral relationship between respect for women's rights and overall corporate, social and economic progress.

Since their launch in 2004, the Calvert Women’s Principles have heightened awareness of workplace issues affecting women, as well as the role of business in ensuring women’s rights. Reflecting changes in the corporate diversity landscape in the intervening years, Calvert updated the CWP in 2009 to address salient emerging issues, particularly those concerning work-life balance.

Augustine pointed out that not only can promoting responsible corporate conduct make a real difference in the lives of women; it can materially benefit businesses that capitalize on the strengths women bring to the corporate world.

“In an increasingly complex global marketplace, the ability to draw on a wide range of viewpoints, backgrounds, skills, and experience is both a social and strategic business and investment imperative. Calvert welcomes the opportunity to participate in this international multi-stakeholder consultative process to champion the empowerment and advancement of working women worldwide.”